Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1889, volume 6).djvu/32

12 coverer of these bodies, the two Hersehels alone exceeding him. The degree of Ph. D. was con- ferred on him by the University of Rochester in 1879. He has invented a horse hay-rake (1842) ; an oxyhydrogen microscope (1858) ; an improvement in the construction of domes (1881) ; and an auto- matic right-ascension circle (1887). Dr. Swift has been elected a fellow of the Royal astronomical society of Great Britain, and he is a member of various- societies in this country. His writings have been confined to cyclopaedia articles and papers that have appeared in various astronomical journals or as popular articles in the press.

SWIFT, Robert, conchologist, b. in Philadel- phia, Pa., in 1799 ; d. in St. Thomas, W. I., 6 May, 1872. He went to South America, but in 1831 es- tablished himself as a merchant at St. Thomas, W. I. In 1866 he retired to Philadelphia, but he returned to St. Thomas the following year. His collection of shells, said to be the finest in the West Indies, was arranged in Denmark, and pre- sented to the Smithsonian institution at Washing- ton, D. C. The collection was valued at $30,000. He was a man of fine culture and great fondness for scientific pursuits, and was in constant corre- spondence with the ablest conchologists in this country in regard to his favorite study.

SWIFT, Samuel, jurist, b. in Amenia, N. Y„ 3 Aug., 1782; d. in Middlebury, Vt., in 1875. He was graduated at Dartmouth in 1800, and was a tutor in Middlebury college from 1800 till 1802. He studied and practised law, was secretary of state of Vermont, judge of probate of Addison county from 1819 till 1841, and a judge of the county court in 1855-'7. Middlebury gave him the degree of LL. D. in 1860. During 1812-'13 he edited a political paper. He published " History of the Town of Middlebury " (Middlebury, 1859) ; " Statistical and Historical Account of the County of Addison, Vermont " (1859) ; and addresses.

SWIFT, Zephaniah, jurist, b. in Wareham, Mass., in February, 1759 ; d. in Warren, Ohio, 27 Sept., 1823. He was graduated at Yale in 1778, studied law, was admitted to the bar, and began practice at Windham, Conn. He was elected to congress, serving from 2 Dec, 1793, till 3 March, 1797, and was appointed in 1800 secretary to Oliver Ellsworth, minister to France. In 1801 he was Appointed a judge of the state supreme court, and he was its chief justice in 1806-'19. He was a member of the Hartford convention of New Eng- land Federalists, sat in the state house of repre- sentatives, and was a member of a commission to revise the laws of Connecticut. He published " Oration on Domestic Slavery " (Hartford, 1791) ; u System of the Laws of Connecticut " (2 vols., Windham, 1795-6) ; " Digest of the Laws of Evi- dence in Civil and Criminal Cases, and a Treatise on Bills of Exchange and Promissory Notes" (Hartford, 1810) ; and " Digest of the Laws of Con- necticut" (2 vols., New Haven, 1822-'3). — His daughter, Mary A., published about 1833 " First Lessons on Natural Philosophy," which was a popu- lar text-book for many years, and was translated into Karen (1846) and into Burmese (1848).

SWINBURNE, John, physician, b. in Deer River, Lewis co„ N. Y., 30 May, 1820. He was graduated at Albany medical college in 1846. and began to practise in that city. In 1861 he was ap- pointed chief medical officer on the staff of Gen. John F. Rathbone, and placed in charge of the depot for recruits at Albany. In May, 1862, he was appointed by Gov. Edwin D. Morgan auxiliary volunteer surgeon at the front with the rank of medical superintendent, and was reappointed by Gov. Horatio Seymour on 13 June. He was sub- sequently made a surgeon in the U. S. service, and assigned to duty at Savage's station. He was tak- en prisoner, 29 June, 1862, and offered his liberty by his captors, but preferred to remain with his patients. He was appointed by Gov. Seymour in 1864 health officer of the port of New York, re- appointed by Gov. Reuben E. Fenton in 1866, and held the post six years. He was surgeon-in-chief of the American ambulance corps in Paris during the siege of that city by the German army in 1870-'l. In 1882 he was elected mayor of Albany, and in 1884 he was chosen to congress and served for one term. He has been surgeon-in-chief to the Child's hospital and Homoeopathic hospital at Al- bany, and has been a frequent contributor to the medical journals and reviews. See "A Typical American, or Incidents in the Life of Dr. John Swinburne" (Albany, 1888).— His son, Louis Jud- son, author, b. in Albany, N. Y., 24 Aug., 1855 ; d. in Colorado Springs, Col., 9 Dec, 1887, went abroad with his family in 1870, and resided in Paris during the siege, his observations during that period being embodied in his " Paris Sketch- es " (Albany, 1875). He was graduated at Yale in 1879, and afterward resided almost entirely in Denver and at Colorado Springs in consequence of delicate health. He contributed to magazines, and had in press at his death a volume of essays en- titled " English Romanticism."

SWING, David, clergyman, b. in Cincinnati, Ohio, 23 Aug., 1830. His father died in 1832, and his boyhood was mostly spent upon a farm. He was graduated at Miami university, Oxford, Ohio, in 1852, and soon began the study of theology, but before a year elapsed he was made professor of languages at Miami, where he remained twelve years, preaching occasionally in addition to his regular duties. In 1866 he accepted a call to become pastor of the 4th Presbyterian church in Chicago. In the great fire of 1871 his church edifice and the homes of most of his parishioners were swept away, but arrangements were at once made for him to preach in Standard hall and McVicker's theatre till a new building could be erected for his congregation. This was done in 1874. His audiences were large and appreciative, and his sermons and essays appeared nearly every week in the public press ; but his doctrines were regarded by many as heterodox, and Prof. Francis L. Patton preferred the charge of heresy against Prof. Swing in twenty-eight specifications before the Chicago presbytery, 15 April, 1874. A trial of several weeks' duration was held, and resulted in an acquittal, but Prof. Swing withdrew from the Presbyterian church, and his congregation has since been independent. McVicker's theatre proving too small, Central music hall, the largest in the city, was built in 1878, where Prof. Swing has since continued to preach to large audiences.

SWINTON, John, journalist, b. in Salton, Haddingtonshire, Scotland, 12 Dec, 1830. He received his early education from his uncle, the Rev. Robert Currie, emigrated in 1843 to Canada, and afterward to the United States, with his family, learned the printer's trade in Illinois, and practised it for some time in New York city. He then received a course of classical instruction at Williston seminary, Mass., and afterward travelled extensively through the United StateSi Feeling an abhorrence for slavery, he left Charleston, S. C., where he resided at the time, in order to take an active part in the free-state contest in Kansas. He returned to New York city in 1857, and began the study of medicine. While thus engaged he contributed arti-